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Finance Policy

Effective Date : 17 May 2016

General

Plateau School will comply with its financial obligations and maximise the benefit to students through careful and proper allocations and control of financial and property assets.

We will meet all our statutory financial obligations and will have a set of financial management procedures that ensure students receive maximum benefit from funding. These management procedures will include, but not be limited to:

Monitoring and controlling income and expenditure and monitoring the financial position Accounting Procedures

School funds will be invested only in investments authorised generally or specifically by the Board. Any investments must be low risk, e.g. bank term deposit. All investments will be managed with Board approval.

In order to assist the Board meet its obligations, the Bursar will prepare a report for the Board each month.

Expenditure

Any expenditure over $2,000 within the provisions of the Annual Budget requires agreement of Bursar and Principal prior to payment and Board notification.

Any expenditure over $2,000 outside the provisions of the Plan or Budget requires agreement of Bursar, Principal and at least two other Board members prior to payment.

Any expenditure under $2,000 outside the provisions of the Plan or Budget requires agreement of Bursar and Principal prior to payment.

Only those formally authorised by the Board, or formally sub delegated by the Principal will have authority to sign cheques or otherwise authorise payments from School Bank Accounts. The Bursar, the Principal and Deputy Principal are authorised to sign cheques and to make payments through internet banking.

A delegated Board member (not the Principal) shall periodically review records of all expenditure.

Financial Planning

The board of trustees has overall responsibility for the financial management of the school but delegates the day-to-day management of the school’s finance’s and budget to the principal. The principal, in association with the Chairperson, the Board Member responsible for Finance, and Bursar is responsible for recommending an annual operating and capital budget to the board before the end of the calendar year.

Budgeting shall not fail to reflect the annual plan, risk financial jeopardy nor fail to show a generally acceptable level of foresight.

Thus the budget should:

reflect the results sought by the board

reflect the priorities as established by the board

comply where the board’s requirement is for a balanced budget

demonstrate an appropriate degree of conservatism in all estimates

Financial Condition

The financial viability of our school must be protected at all times. The board understands that the possibility of theft or fraud can not be entirely eliminated however the principal is required to show there are in place safeguards and robust, clear procedures to minimise the risk of either event.

Resource: Reference should be made to 5.4 of the Financial Information for Schools Handbook (FISH). Therefore, the principal must ensure that:

unauthorised debt or liability is not incurred

generally accepted accounting practices or principles are not violated

tagged/committed funds are not used for purposes other than those approved

more funds than have been allocated in the fiscal year are not spent without prior board approval

all money owed to the school is collected in a timely manner

timely payment to staff and other creditors is made

unauthorised property is not sold or purchased

all relevant government returns are completed on time

no one person has complete authority over the school’s financial transactions

when making any purchase:

of over $1000, comparative prices are sought

of over $2000 on a single item board approval is first sought (and an adequate review on ongoing costs, value and reliability is undertaken)

effective systems are in place to meet the requirements of the payroll system